Joplin rally comes up short

September 10, 2008 12:17 am

— By Meagan Morrison
sports@joplinglobe.com
A late Joplin comeback wasn’t enough to lead the boys soccer team over the Rolla Bulldogs on Tuesday night at Joplin High School.
The Bulldogs (2-0) won 3-2 to put the Joplin Eagles at 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Ozark Conference play.
“We had a lot of chances,” said Joplin head coach Ed Miller. “We didn’t come out in the beginning of the game ready to play.”
Rolla scored first with a goal from senior Tyler Sinnott. Sinnott, who was assisted by senior Andrew Chism, scored in the first minute of the game.
“We had to make adjustments on Sinnott,” Miller said. “He really got to us in the first half. We were able to shut him down a little bit in the second half.”
Sinnott and Chism paired up again for another Sinnott goal with 23:09 left in the first half to make the score 2-0.
“Rolla is one of the best teams in the conference,” Miller said. “You have to play with them every minute of the game. We just weren’t there in the first half.”
Joplin scored its first goal by junior Max Duncan with 25:02 left in the game. The Eagles scored again on a goal from junior Samuel Yount, assisted by freshman Parker Maher. Yount scored with 15:25 left in the game.
“Once we started scoring, we were able to gain some confidence,” Miller said. “We were able to play better.”
After the Eagles tied the game at 2-2, junior Cody Martin scored to put the Bulldogs up 3-2 with 14:55 left in the game.
“We made two big mistakes,” Miller said. “We let them score a minute into the game and a minute after we tied it.”
Senior goal keeper John McDermid had nine save for the Eagles.
“John is a great goalkeeper,” Miller said. “He kept us in the game. No one scored on him in the first two games, but when Rolla comes to town it’s a whole new ball game.”
Senior Stephen Moorkamp had three saves for the Bulldogs. Martin had a deflection with 14 minutes left in the game.
Rolla had 16 shots in the game, while Joplin had 11.
“We came back in the second half and really started playing with them,” Miller said. “We made some adjustments and put on a better show. They just beat us on every ball. I’m proud of the kids and the comeback they had. They showed a lot of heart.”
The Eagles will play again Thursday at 6 p.m. against Monett in Joplin.

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